Planning on a few days in Amsterdam next summer with family. We will just be there for 3.5 days before traveling to Norway for a week. Kids ages 9-15. Never been to Amsterdam but have heard it has a lot to offer families (obviously not red light district). For those that have been with kids, any can't miss things to do?

Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Anne Franks house of course. Lots of great restaurants, and usually stuff going on at Vondelpark. Also the Keukenhof gardens are pretty magnificent

My kids loved making their own chocolate bars at the Tony's Chocolonely Super Store!

We also did a bike ride through the Dutch countryside. They enjoyed seeing the windmills, but the chocolate was the highlight haha

Cruises down the canals are fun, too.

Do you have accommodations yet? We went a few years ago and stayed in Haarlem, about 15-20 minute train ride from Amsterdam. We had a hotel right across the plaza from the train station, so travel was a breeze. Haarlem is smaller and easier to get around, not as crowded and very charming.

We went into Amsterdam several times. Also second the two museums and the Anne Frank House. Windmills are fun. Take the train to Zandvoort (a quickish train ride from Haarlem in the opposite direction) to see the North Sea and the F1 track (if that's your thing). My son loved those museums and seeing the race track. In Haarlem, the Corrie ten Boom House is worth a visit (read "The Hiding Place" before you go).

All good suggestions. Will look into them!

BIMS O1 said:

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Planning on a few days in Amsterdam next summer with family. We will just be there for 3.5 days before traveling to Norway for a week. Kids ages 9-15. Never been to Amsterdam but have heard it has a lot to offer families (obviously not red light district). For those that have been with kids, any can't miss things to do?

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Anne Frank House

We were there this summer with a 9 a 13 year old.

Check out the Resistance Museum and the Maritime Museum.

Also the cheese museum, which is really more of a cheese shop, but worth a quick stop.

Lots of good suggestions in this thread. Couple of thoughts:

If you want to do the Anne Frank house make sure to get tickets as early as possible (think they release on Tuesdays for slots up to 6 weeks out). We did Amsterdam with the kids kind of last minute this summer and weren't able to get tickets.

If the kids need a little bit of a break from art & culture for an afternoon, ours really enjoyed the Upside Down Museum.

Definitely try Indonesian food at restaurant with good reviews (doesn't mean fancy). Go for the ristaaffel to sample many different dishes. So great!

For lunch or breakfast one day, go down to the Albert Cuypmarkt (walking distance from the Rijksmuseum if you're in average or better shape). Awesome street market for food, snacks, vendors, etc. Between those areas is a restaurant called Bakers and Roasters. It's also fantastic

We spent two 2 days in Amsterdam in May with kids ranging from 10-18. They all enjoyed Anne Frank, Rijksmuseum (we didn't like the lower level, loved all of the other areas), and just walking around the city for a bit can be cool. The canals, the bikes, the Royal Palace area, tons of good food, shops, you name it.

We originally planned to do a windmill village tour but the schedule didn't allow it. We did hear that those can be hit or miss depending on if it's raining that day or not.

For those of you that have taken your family to Amsterdam, what other cities did you visit? It's time we get over to Europe. Son will be 12.

WorthAg95 said:

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For those of you that have taken your family to Amsterdam, what other cities did you visit? It's time we get over to Europe. Son will be 12.

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First trip to Amsterdam, I was 7. No lie, we stayed at the Amsterdam Hilton. But, we didn't do a sleep in for Peace like John and Yoko Ono.

The reason I have never felt compelled to go to any of the Concentration Camps is because we did go to the Anne Frank House. That scared the everliving Hell outta me.

We did all the touristy stuff in Amsterdam like the museums and you must do a canal tour. Basically go watch the Amsterdam episode of Ted Lasso.

After that we took the train down to Cologne, West Germany. The Rhine was in a 500 year flood that summer of 1978.

Anywhere in Belgium is very easy from Amsterdam. We did Ghent and Bruges this summer. Some good WWI and II sites are good day trips from either city too.

We are currently on a Rhine River Cruise and our best meal was at Pesca in Amsterdam. It's fresh fish that you choose and very good. We also enjoyed an Asian restaurant MoMo. We definitely recommend the Anne Frank house, Albert Cuyp Market, Canal Cruise.

I would add the Amsterdam City museum to your list (if it was not already mentioned). It tells the story of the city, and has some good stuff for kids. As much as I love the Van Gogh museum, I would guess kids might find a bunch of paintings kind of boring.

Also if your kids are adventurous eaters find an Indonesian rice table (rijkstaffel) for dinner. It is perfect for family style dining. Honestly, rice tables are probably the biggest reason that we try to get to Amsterdam every year or two.

If you want other cities in the Netherlands I'd recommend:

Maastricht
Gouda
Delft
Valkenburg
Hoorn
Naarden (Star Fort)
Enkhuizen

Not all of these will be particularly interesting for a 12 year old though.

WorthAg95 said:

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For those of you that have taken your family to Amsterdam, what other cities did you visit? It's time we get over to Europe. Son will be 12.

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We flew into AMS earlier this year, spent a few days in Amsterdam, two days in Brussels, and ended the trip with three days in London.

It turns out we are there when the 25th world pride festival is happening, so we audibled and are staying in a smaller town on the outskirts of Amsterdam (Haarlem) and will go into the city one day for the Anne frank house, canal tour, and museums.

Will then plan on doing windmills, chocolate making, etc. Will definitely keep a list of the restaurant recommendations.

Lots of good stuff already posted, so I'll list some things we did that I haven't seen mentioned.

My kids surprisingly loved the MOCO museum.

We took a tour of the Royal Coster diamond cutting factory.

Your oldest might be uninterested, but my kids loved the Nemo children's museum, we could have spent a whole day there.

We went across the river to the A'Dam Tower and did the lookout then went to the basement for the VR gaming lounge.

If Electric Ladyland is open, that's a weird psychedelic art store with a fluorescent art museum in the basement.

Madurodam in The Hague. Easy train ride from Amsterdam

Zaanse Schaans. Not far from Haarlem.

BIMS O1 said:

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It turns out we are there when the 25th world pride festival is happening, so we audibled and are staying in a smaller town on the outskirts of Amsterdam (Haarlem) and will go into the city one day for the Anne frank house, canal tour, and museums.

Will then plan on doing windmills, chocolate making, etc. Will definitely keep a list of the restaurant recommendations.

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You're gonna love Haarlem. As I mentioned above, that's where we stayed. I think we spent five nights there, and found it really easy to get around on the train to wherever we wanted to go - Amsterdam, Zandvoort, Zaanse Schans, wherever. If you have enough time, take the train/bus to Efteling, a really nice and unique theme park south of Amsterdam.

Haarlem is super walkable. We stayed at the Hotel Lion d'Or, which is just across the plaza from the train station.

In Haarlem, check out the Corrie Ten Boom House (read "The Hiding Place" before you go) and Teylers Museum (a really cool, quirky museum with a ton of stuff that my son randomly found while googling).

No real restaurant recs in Haarlem, since our hotel included breakfast and we often weren't there for lunch or dinner. But it's a fun town, lots of grocery stores and spots to grab snacks and such. Perfect for families.